


Teaching Lessons

by khazadspoon



Category: Justice League, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons)
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:38:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khazadspoon/pseuds/khazadspoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Batman accidentally 'comes out', prompting Clark to defend him in front of the world. They stand together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teaching Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> For a prompt from my lovely Amy (gosuckagrayson) on tumblr. She asked, I gave. It's not the best but have a read anyway!

Clark returned to Earth after a two week stint in space moving several meteors out of collision courses with several planets to find things different to when he’d left. First he stopped in at the Planet to give in a draft to Perry and say hi to Lois. She asked him his opinion on Batman’s latest blunder, when he had responded with a blank look of confusion she had shoved a copy of the paper from three days ago in his hands and leaned on his desk with her arms crossed. 

“Batman… Comes Out?” Clark murmured, one hand reaching up reflexively to adjust his glasses. His heart hammered in his chest; Bruce had come out? For a moment he felt hurt, why hadn’t Bruce talked to him about it? But then he remembered, he’d been in space for two weeks. His stomach churned; he needed to talk to Bruce. 

“Yep, that happened. Where the hell have you been, Clark? It was this week’s biggest news!” Lois slapped his arm and squeezed his bicep. 

“I, uh, was in… Ecuador.” He fumbled, blush rising on his cheeks as he tried to come up with an excuse to leave, to get to Bruce. “Listen, Lois, I’ve got some leads to check up on so, uh, I’ll see you later, ok?” Clark stood quickly and smiled softly at her. He hated lying, especially to Lois who had done nothing but encourage him at the Daily Planet. She sighed and smiled at him.

“Alright, Clark, I’ll see you later. You can tell me about Ecuador!” She shouted the last part at his fleeing back. 

Clark fled the building and found an empty alleyway to change in and swiftly took to the skies and flew to Gotham as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself. He watched as the sky grew darker, or at least seemed to, around the city. When he reached Wayne Manor he set down quietly on the balcony outside Bruce’s bedroom. Clark heard his heartbeat in the room, steady and strong as usual; Clark took a deep breath before tapping lightly on the glass doors. Bruce opened them a moment later. 

“Bruce, I-” He was cut off by the firm press of lips as Bruce kissed him, Clark felt his partner’s fingers tighten in his costume, and Clark couldn’t help but melt into Bruce’s touch. He had that effect on Clark. Bruce moaned quietly, the sound sent heat through Clark’s body, but he had to talk to Bruce. He had to know if he was okay. 

“Bruce, Bruce!” He pushed himself away, stepped round the shorter man into the room and took a deep breath. “Lois, uh, she showed me the, um, paper.” He said lamely. Bruce sighed quietly, his shoulders slumped, and he wiped a hand over his face. Clark noticed he looked tired; his eyes were duller than usual and the line of his mouth seemed tighter. 

“It’s nothing. There was… a mistake.” Bruce walked to the bed and sat heavily on it. 

“Well, what happened?” Clark prompted, gliding to sit next to Bruce, their bodies pressed close side by side. Bruce leaned against him and Clark bit his lip; it was one of the most expressive actions Bruce had given him besides the one night they had spent together in the Watchtower as Diana kept an eye on things. Bruce was… a private person. To show weakness, to lean on Clark either figuratively or literally, was not something he did lightly. Clark felt Bruce tense then relax. 

“It was a routine night, nothing was happening in particular but… Then there were three guys ganged up on a fourth. They were beating him, Clark, so I went down and dealt with them. I must have said something but,” he paused, shook his head, and continued, “one of them must have talked to the press.” 

Clark wrapped an arm around Bruce and pulled them closer together. He pressed a kiss into the soft black tresses of Bruce’s hair. 

“It’s sensation news, it’ll blow over in a week, Bruce.” Clark squeezed the man in his arm gently, just to let him know they were in it together. For a reporter, Clark was terrible with words in private. Dealing with terrorists or teenagers on the brink? That was easier than dealing with Bruce sometimes. 

“They ended up digging up enough to out ‘Brucie Wayne’, Clark.” His voice was quiet. Clark let out a sharp breath. “The stock’s taken a nose dive; I’m being slammed on national television, who knows what’s going to happen to Batman’s reputation…” His body slumped and fell into Clark’s. “We can weather it out, I suppose, Wayne’s have dealt with plenty of scandals in the past. What’s one more?” Clark held his tongue. Bruce didn’t need an argument, neither of them did, so Clark picked Bruce up and lay them on the bed. He pressed soft kisses to Bruce’s neck and shoulders, felt the warmth of him through the thin black material of his t-shirt and hovered above him.

“Whatever happens, I’m here, okay?” He kissed Bruce again.  
They lay quietly in the dark and Clark hoped no one would need him. 

-

A week later, Superman had to unveil a statue of himself (seriously, couldn’t the mayor do it?) in Metropolis. With Lex Luthor in a maximum security facility 50 miles off of the East Coast and no threats from elsewhere in the Universe (at least Darkseid was occupied as far as the Justice League knew), Clark hoped the day would go to plan. 

He wanted to teach, or at least attempt to teach, the world a lesson. They’d listen to Superman, right? Not that he expected an overnight change or anything; humans were stubborn and hard headed. Clark took a deep breath and landed on the stage. He winced at the large crowd. He had discussed what he was about to do with Bruce, but he had his doubts. 

It could backfire pretty badly. 

In the distance Clark heard the sound of something enter the atmosphere, possibly the Javelin 7, and smiled to himself. 

The crowd cheered as he waved to them, some wearing ‘Superman’ t-shirts, others with signs, and Clark looked at the three city officials at the centre of the temporary stage. Mayor Fleming was there, her hands clasped behind her back as she watched Superman walk towards them. 

“We thought you’d be late,” she said, her lips quirking into a smile, “not sure why, you’re always on time.” Clark smirked a little and bowed his head. 

“Wouldn’t want to let you down, Mayor.” Superman straightened his back and looked out into the crowd before facing Mayor Fleming again. “I’ve got a thing or two to say, I hope that’s alright?” He asked. Fleming nodded and checked her watch. 

“It’s your statue, Superman, say what you want; within reason.” Fleming gave him a stern look. It was refreshing to be looked at like you weren’t some powerful demi-god all the time. Clark nodded to her and stepped away. The crowd hushed when Fleming lifted her hand at the podium. She said a few words about the progress of Metropolis and how Superman had contributed to that progress then introduced him. Superman stepped onto the podium and smiled to the crowd. 

“Good afternoon, everyone, great to see so many people here,” he paused as the crowd cheered. “I’d like to thank Mayor Fleming for her kind words, though she’s done more than me for this city.” More cheers, Clark saw Fleming smile from the corner of his eye. “But, if I may, I’d like to address something that has upset me over the last week.” The crowd went silent; Clark looked at the hundreds of faces before him and steeled himself, his expression hardening as he looked out at the people. Superman made sure to look directly at any camera he saw. “I have a good friend, a very good friend, who has been attacked by some of the general public. I want to take this chance to say that it’s wrong to do this.” Clark swallowed and took a moment to collect himself.  
This was it. 

“Yes, Batman is gay. No, that is not a bad thing. And I think it’s time we accepted this part of people as normal, because it is.” Clark smiled a little at the crowd and felt his heart skip a beat at the hopeful look on some of their faces. “But, there is something that I feel needs to be done, so… I want to introduce you to someone.” There was a murmur through the crowd. “Just a second,” he sped as fast as he could to Gotham, swept a dazed Bruce into his arms and back to Metropolis in seconds. 

“Clark, what-” Bruce looked around, the light shining off of his hair under the bright sunlight of Metropolis on a warm summers day. Clark wrapped his arm around Bruce’s waist and whispered in his ear. 

“This is what we talked about.” Superman stood straight and nodded to the bewildered crowd. “Everyone, this is my partner; Bruce Wayne.” 

Silence. Then, to Clark’s surprise, and to Bruce’s surprise if his heart beat was anything to go by, there was applause. Clark grinned and looked down at the love of his life. Bruce gave him a small private smile and dragged him down for a kiss. The applause grew and Clark smiled as he kissed Bruce, let all the love he felt show on his face. 

“Clark,” Bruce whispered, his voice loud even over the din to Clark’s ears, “I love you, you idoit.” Clark laughed and kissed him again, his arm tightened around Bruce’s waist. “Think you can wrap this up? I’ve got a patrol tonight.” Bruce punched Clark’s shoulder and stepped back. 

“Alright, alright.” Superman faced the crowd and pulled the sheet off of the statue. “Well, folks, that’s about all for now. If you’ll excuse us?” He turned and smiled at the shocked Mayor and picked up a disgruntled Bruce before taking off. Clark gave the crowd one last wave before flying towards Gotham. 

-

“This is an outrage!” Bruce turned the volume of the monitor up. Diana had apparently decided to defend him on national television. “Any attack on Batman, or any of my friends is an attack on me and I never back down from a fight.”

Bruce ran a hand over his face and sighed. He appreciated the efforts his teammates had gone to in order to defend him and make things right, he did, but it was a little…brash. The media focus had died down, his accidental coming out had been pushed to the back pages of the gossip section. Diana had been in Themyscira during the whole event, though, so Bruce could let it slide. The Flash’s boycott on all anti-lgbtqa soft-drinks had been effective, though. 

“If there are threats towards anyone I care about again, I shall not ask nicely.” Diana remarked, her arms crossed as she looked accusingly at the reporter cowering at her side. Bruce smirked as the reporter nodded quickly, his face pale. Diana took off, her tiara glinting in the sun, but stopped a few meters in the air. “I take these things personally, I believe Hawkgirl would as well.”

Well, that was a bit of a shock. 

Clark sputtered behind him. 

“H-Hawkgirl? And Diana?” He mumbled, his cheeks turned a bright red. Bruce turned and rolled his eyes. 

“It is a bit of a shock, yes, but it’s not all that shocking, Clark.” Bruce stood and turned the monitor off. “Nothing seems to be happening right now… Why don’t we see how long I can keep you blushing?”

Clark swallowed, his cheeks bright red. But he didn’t say no.


End file.
